Hi-Fi sound quality – and a DJ controlled by your voice

Let's address this straight away: the Apple HomePod sounds stunning.

Getty - Contributor

The speaker was announced in June last year, but the launch was delayed until February 2018

It's not a big device but it's solidly packed with seven tweeters (speakers handling the mid-ranges and higher notes) and a woofer which manages bass by moving massively inside the device - if needed it can punch out a big bassy noise by moving up to 2cm.

Those tweeters are placed in a circle so that they can deliver 360-degree sound that can fill a room.

And because this is a smart speaker, the brain inside it - the Apple A8 chip which powered the iPhone 6 - can, on the hoof, tell the main vocal from the background sounds.

The Homepod then knows which part of the track to direct forward into the room and which to bounce off the back wall.

AFP - Getty

The Apple HomePod is a direct rival to the Amazon Echo smart speaker

It is not officially a stereo speaker but it doesn’t merge the two channels into one like mono speakers so it sounds like stereo.

Apple Music, which is set to take over Spotify as the service with the most customers, is tightly integrated into the HomePod – so you have access to 45million songs from more than two million artists plus tens of thousands of playlists. You do, of course, need to have a subscription, which is £9.99 a month.

The HomePod knows all your preferences from using the service on your iPhone so if you simply say “Hey Siri, play music” it will belt out some of your favourites. Or pick a genre and it plays that.

AP:Associated Press

The HomePod is powered by Apple's Siri virtual assistant, which is already available on your iPhone

Easy set-up

If you've ever used AirPods, Apple's wireless headphones, you won't be surprised that set-up here is quick and easy. Hold your iPhone (or iPad) near the speaker and the two gadgets recognise each other. And you're done.

The iPhone sends your Apple ID, complete with Apple Music preferences, wifi network details and so on to the HomePod. Within seconds it's ready to play music, answer questions, adjust your heating and so on.

How reliable is Siri?

There are six microphones in the HomePod, intelligently listening out for the magic words, "Hey, Siri". It is very good at hearing you say this even over loud music. It's also good at understanding what you're saying, mostly.

For some features, like, "Hey, Siri, send a text message", you need to make sure your iPhone and HomePod are on the same wi-fi network. This is a useful security feature, so someone else in your household can't play your private messages when you're out, but it can be a pain if your iPhone falls off the wi-fi.

Apple release new powerful speaker the 'HomePod' giving you effortless access to music

Siri can help out controlling smart gadgets at home if you have ones that work with it, such as Philips Hue light bulbs.

Say, "Hey, Siri, I'm home", for instance - and it can turn on the lights and heating. Being able to change or confirm commands by using the iPhone Home app is a bonus.

Plus ask it what the weather is and Siri gives you the day’s forecast. In fact, it can help out in quite a few things - with traffic, sports scores, news, and translation.

It’s not bad at helping out the kids with homework too since it is also pretty good at general knowledge and spelling. It was able to help me with capital cities, for example.

Oh, and there are ways of controlling the HomePod without your voice thanks to a touchscreen on the top of the speaker which lets you tap to change volume, skip a track or pause playback.

What about privacy?

This is always a big thing for Apple. The HomePod is listening for its key phrase, "Hey, Siri" and only when it hears that does it transmit your words to the cloud to work out what you've said. It's done using an anonymous Siri ID, encrypted all the way. Oh, and it doesn't save what you've said.

Getty Images - Getty

The HomePod is on sale in the UK for £319, which is far higher than the £89.99 Amazon Echo

Even so, if that's not enough, you can say, "Hey, Siri, stop listening" and it won't. You tap the speaker to start it listening again.

Hey, Siri, tell me about Alexa

Amazon's personal assistant, Alexa, hasn't been around as long as Siri, but she's got very capable, very quickly. It feels like more smart home gadgets respond to Alexa than Siri, though this may change.

There are some things Alexa can do better, like telling jokes, say. If Amazon Echo sounded as good as HomePod, and it doesn't, Apple could be in trouble.

If you're a radio fan, Alexa has the edge here - Siri doesn't do anything if you ask her to "play Radio 5 Live".

And Alexa is on lots and lots of gadgets, including smart speakers from Sony and Sonos.

The Sonos One is a great hi-fi speaker, and much cheaper than HomePod. It doesn't sound as good as it's only a mono speaker, but you can currently buy two which you can set as a stereo pair for £349, not much more than one HomePod.

Alexa isn't quite as responsive on Sonos as she is on Amazon's speakers, so this isn't a slam-dunk win for Sonos, but it's certainly a strong competitor to Apple.

AP:Associated Press

The official Apple HomePod release date is February 9, 2018

Is it worth the money?

The audio is very, very good - I've seen lots of non-smart speakers costing this much and more which don't sound as good as HomePod.

If audio quality isn't the most important thing for you, then an Amazon Echo Spot or Google Home Mini offer a lot of smart features for much less cash.

But they can't come anywhere near matching the sound quality.

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Conclusion

The HomePod isn't perfect, but it has a lot going for it. And, like most electronic gadgets these days, it will get better with time as software updates add features. One coming later this year, for instance, will let you use two HomePods as a stereo pair. I've heard this in action and it sounds phenomenal.

Siri doesn't always seem as versatile as Alexa or as knowledgeable as Google Assistant.

But Siri is brilliant at finding songs, suggesting music and, above all, playing it brilliantly.